And the Land Lay Still - Hardcover

Robertson, James

4.26

1,168 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 024114356X ISBN 13: 9780241143568

Publisher: Hamish Hamilton, 2010

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Michael Pendreich is curating an exhibition of photographs by his late, celebrated father Angus for the National Gallery of Photography in Edinburgh. The show will cover fifty years of Scottish life but, as he arranges the images and writes his catalogue essay, what story is Michael really trying to tell: his father's, his own or that of Scotland itself?

And what of the stories of the individuals captured by Angus Pendreich's lens over all those decades? The homeless wanderer collecting pebbles; the Second World War veteran and the Asian shopkeeper, fighting to make better lives for their families; the Conservative MP with a secret passion, and his drop-out sister, vengeful against class privilege; the alcoholic intelligence officer betrayed on all sides, not least by his own inadequacy; the activists fighting for Scottish Home Rule - all have their own tales to tell.

Tracing the intertwined lives of an unforgettable cast of characters, James Robertson's new novel is a searching journey into the heart of a country of high hopes and unfulfilled dreams, private compromises and hidden agendas. Brilliantly blending the personal and the political, And The Land Stay Still sweeps away the dust and grime of the postwar years to reveal a rich mosaic of 20th-century Scottish life.

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Review:

Wonderful, brilliant, panoramic, illuminating. A joy to read (Irvine Welsh Guardian)

Gripping, vivid, beautifully realized (The Times)

Powerful and moving. A brilliant and multifaceted saga of Scottish life in the second half of the twentieth century (Sunday Times)

Toweringly ambitious, virtually flawlessly realized, a masterpiece and, without a doubt, my book of the year (Daily Mail)

Big, ambitious, intricately organised . . . it's some achievement (New Statesman)

Dizzying . . . subtle and profound . . . And The Land Lay Still reads like an alternative history of Scotland told by its everyday people instead of its movers and shakers . . . eminently readable (Independent on Sunday)

Both epic and domestic, it delivers a wonderful lifelikeness (Scotsman)

A hugely ambitious and compassionate novel . . . a jam-packed, dizzying piece of fiction . . . already it's being spoken of as the most important novel about Scotland since Lanark (Scotland on Sunday)

About the Author:

James Robertson is the author of The Fanatic, Joseph Knight, The Testament of Gideon Mack, And the Land Lay Still, and The Professor of Truth. Hamish Hamilton published his most recent novel, To Be Continued. Joseph Knight won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year and the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year, The Testament of Gideon Mack was longlisted for the 2006 Man Booker Prize, and And the Land Lay Still won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year. Robertson is also the author of four short story collections, most recently 365: Stories, five poetry collections and numerous children's books written in English and Scots. He runs the independent publishing house Kettillonia, and he is co-founder and general editor of the Scots language imprint Itchy Coo, which produces books in Scots for children and young adults.

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